There are two conspicuous, free, open source alternatives:
- use the
Wine Windows emulator on Linux/Unix/Mac;
- use the XP version of
ReactOS.
These two free alternatives can be installed on most computers next to your existing OS -- you don't have to buy a separate, used computer with XP already installed.
In addition, you can run both Wine and ReactOS
without installing anything, as both can run from a liveCD/USB. Furthermore, it should be trivial to create such a live CD (or live USB) that also includes your XP apps, so that all you have to do is insert the CD/DVD/USB and boot it, allowing instant access to your XP handicapping apps on almost any computer.
Of course, there is no guarantee that your XP programs will fun flawlessly on Wine and/or ReactOS, but since both alternatives are free and since neither needs to be installed, what could it hurt to try them?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Flysofree
But when these 2 computers die and I use them often on the internet...
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Not sure why one would expect computers to "die" nor what the Internet has to do with it. Computers usually malfunction because of either buggy/corrupt/crufty software or because of a single faulty hardware component. Often, both the troubled software and faulty hardware component can be easily swapped-out.
